Cheese manufacture



31, 1955 n. M. GREER ETAL 2,709,656

CHEESE MANUFACTURE Original Filed Dec. 9, 1947 cnnnsn MANUFACTURE DonaldM. Greer, Hinsdaie, and John L. Zink, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Armourand Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Originalapplication December 9, 1947, Serial No. 790,628. Divided and thisapplication March 3, 1951, Serial No. 213,722

1 Claim. (Cl. 99-416) This invention relates to cheese manufacture. Theinvention embraces novel methods of cheese manufacture and novelapparatus.

This application constitutes a division of our copending applicationSerial No. 790,628 filed December 9, 1947, which has now matured intoPatent No. 2,544,672.

In the manufacture of cheese, it is customary to treat the milk in vatsto form a curd, to withdraw the whey to a substantial extent, and thento treat the curd as a mass in several steps involving hand operations.In such hand operations, the curd body is cut into pieces and the piecespiled or cheddared. Finally, the curd is milled, salted and hooped.

The above hand operations involve sanitation hazards, are expensive, andrequire considerable time and labor.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple process inwhich the above hand operations are eliminated and in which moreeffective control is maintained over the various factors involved incheese making. A still further object is to provide a new method andmeans of cheese manufacture in which a large volume of cheese can beproduced from whey and curd without requiring any handling of theproduct manually. Yet another object is to provide apparatus in whichthe process is effectively carried on and which produces a product whichmay be readily placed in packages suitable for sale. A still furtherobject is to provide simple and efiective process steps, which may beemployed in a variety of forms of apparatus and which produce a betterquality cheese within a briefer period. Other specific objects andadvantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

The invention herein may be practiced in connection with apparatusillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view in elevation of apparatus embodying ourinvention; Fig. 2, an enlarged transverse sectional view, the sectionbeing taken as indicated at line 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a detailedsectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line 3 of Fig.2.

In the illustration given, It designates a vat adapted to receive milkfrom any source, as, for example, from the tank 11 thereabove. In thevat 10, the curd is formed in the usual way, the curd at the time beingin relatively small particles in the whey. The whey and curd are drawnthrough pipe 12 and pumped by pump 13 through a hollow trunion 14 into arotatably mounted cylinder 15.

The cylinder 15 may be of any suitable structure. In the illustrationgiven, the cylinder is provided with closed ends but the cylinder itselfis provided with a door 16 having screens 17 extending thereacross. Ifdesired, the door may be completely covered by screens or may beprovided throughout with spaced perforations. Excellent results are alsoobtained when the en tire body of the cylinder is provided with spacedperforations. Opposite the trunnion 14 is a shaft 18 secured to thecylinder 15 and the shaft 18 is journaled atent within the bearingmember 19. The bearing member 19 is provided with speed reduction gearsdriven by shaft 20. Mounted upon shaft 20 is the pulley 21 which in turnis driven by a belt 22 connected to a pulley on the shaft of motor 23.

In the illustration given, the door 16 is secured to the cylindricalwall 15 by hinges 24 and pivotally mounted locking members 25 areprovided for releasably locking the door 16 in place.

Below the cylindrical vessel 15 is supported a trough 26 equipped with avalved draw-01f pipe 27. The pipe 27 may lead to any suitable point ofstorage for the whey.

Within the cylindrical vessel 15 on one side thereof is mounted abreaker device 28 adapted to break up large balls of cheese and to keepthe material within the vessel in relatively small particles. In thespecific illustration given, a beam 29 extends longitudinally of thecylindrical member 15 and is secured to the wall by glue, nails or anyother suitable means. Rods 30 in spaced relation are embedded in themember 29 and extend free- 1y therefrom into position for engagingmasses of cheese or curd within the vessel.

The bearings for the trunnions 14 and 18 may be provided by any suitableapparatus. In the illustration given, the standard 31 supports a bearing32 and the standard 33 supports the bearing member 19. A cross bar 34connects the standards to form a suitable supporting frame.

Operation In the operation of the process and apparatus, the usualcheese cook and curd forming operations are performed and the resultingcurd and whey is drawn from the vat 10 through pump 13 and into theinterior of the cylindrical vessel 15. It will be understood that, ifdesired, the curd may be simply transferred manually from a vat into thevessel 15 when the door 16 has been opened. We prefer, however, to pumpthe whey and the curd particles directly into the vessel 15.

Vessel 15 is rotated through the reduced gearing in the bearing casing19. We have found that good results are obtained when the rotation isquite slow. By way of example, good results were obtained when therotations were between 6 and 14 revolutions per hour. We have discoveredthat very good results are obtained when the rotation is intermittent.For example, the cylindrical vessel may be rotated for 2 minutes andthen allowed to stand without moving for 4 minutes. In treating sometypes of cheese curd, it is found that the rotation may be continuous ifthe speed is extremely slow. We find that the speed of rotation willvary with different types of cheese curd being treated and under variousother changes in operating conditions.

Ah the vessel 15 is rotated, the whey is very rapidly removed. Forexample, we find that more than of the whey is removed in a very briefperiod and eventually more than of free whey is removed from the curd orcheese body.

In the rotation of the curd and whey body, it is found that the curdbuilds up on the walls of the cylinder and is carried upwardly to acertain elevated position in which it folds over or breaks, the curdthen falling into the lower portion of the vessel. As the curd breaksaway from the screen 17, it has a suction effect which effectivelycleans the screen and leaves the screen free for its function in theremoval of Whey.

The breaker apparatus 28 prevents the formation of large balls of curdwhich would otherwise make the effective removal of whey impossible andwhich would greatly reduce the uniformity of the final product. Thebreaker bars or rods 30 constantly strike the larger masses of the curdor cheese and break up such masses.

aroaeee The whey "drains "from the smaller or broken massesandefiectiveremovalotwhey isobtained; 'At the same time, it is foundthat the whey is obliged to drain through the mat of cheese or curd andin this manner, all the fat and"'other desirable partstofthewhey'ai eretained inthe cheese,'theescaping whey being substantially'free ofthe"'1r1aterials which it is desiredto retain in the body of'the curdorcheese.

As the process continues, cheese body characteristics begin to developin the material and a cheese product of excellent quality is produced.'In this step of the process, it may be desirable to introduce'anatmosphere other than air into the container 'andathis may be' efiectedthrough the hollow'trunn'ion M by any suitable connections, asforexa'rnple,' through thevalv'edjpipe 35. Likewise, we c'anintroduceinto th'e container bacterial'medi'a of a suitable type to hastencuring.

After the desired cheese body characteristics have been fullydevelopedpthe cheese is removed. the broken up condition of the cheese,the material'can be readily packed in packages suitable for final sale.If desired, the door 16 may be opened and the material within'the vesselallowed'to drop directly into such final packages supported in thetrough 26 below the vessel I51 Inthis operation, a slight rotation ofthe cylinder 'is'eflective in the mechanicalrernoval of the material.

In the curd forming operation, the curd is kept in comminutedform by theoperation of the usual'agitator apparatus in curd forming vats so thatafter the formation of the curd the material may be readily pumpedthrough pipe 12 and'hollow trunnion 14 into vessel 15. By rapidlyremoving the whey by means of the perforated cylinder and then by.continuously breaking up the masses or balls of curd, it is found thatcheese body characteristics begin to develop much earlier than in priorprocesses with the result. that the period of the cheese makingoperation is reduced and at the same timea better quality is obtained.Further, the product which is obtained may bemore readily packed intocontainers for sale. In all of the operations described it will benotedrthat the material does not come into contact with the hands of theWorkman andthe entire operation is accomplished mechanically. The curdand whey is pumped into a receptacle or machine which is so-operated asto regulate the curd particle size, drainage-and acidity development andfinally, after the proper By reason of cheese body characteristics havebeen built up, the cheese rn'ay be removed mechanically "and filled intohoops or packages. The apparatus further permits the treating of thecurd in an aerated atmosphere or in an atmosphere of a selected gas sothat the cheese is given a superior body and flavor.

In the above process the pumping of the curd and whey bodily from thevat'to the rotating vessel protects the curd particles against beingbroken up, and the curd, when exposed within the vessel to theatmosphere and freed of the whey by the working of'the curd, developsbody characteristics Within a greatly shortened period. As the curdis'rota'ted or folded, the whey is continuously separated'th'e'refromand'withdrawn, leaving the curd in a condition for the rapid building upof cheese body characteristics. I

While in the foregoing apparatus, specific details have been set out forthe purpose of illustrating one, embodiment of apparatus in which theprocess may be carried out and steps of the process have beendescribedin detail for illustrating an embodiment thereof, it willbeunderstood that the apparatus may be varied widely with Q respect. tosuch structure and the process may be carried on in a variety ofdifferent forms'of apparatus and with obvious modifications thereofWithout departing,

ing and dropping of the curd, breaking up the curd into small particlesduring the rotation thereof, and draining the whey from the curd andfrom said treating zon'e du'ring such slow rotation of the curdparticles insaid treating zone, whereby a dry cure of the curd particlesis effected during rotation thereof, and finally withdrawing the treatedcurd from said zone.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES- PATENTS1,475,398 Kielsmeier Nov. 2 7, 1923 1,650,625 Hapgood Nov. 29, 19 272,544,672 Greer et a1. Mar. 13, i

